Page 80 of I Hate You More

She stiffened.

“I know you don’t want to hear it, Ruby,” he said. “You want me to be the man who challenges you and pushes you, who looks at you and sees not just a beautiful woman but a force to be reckoned with—and I do. I promise I do.”

“But?”

His hand came up and cupped the side of her face. She didn’t want to lean into it—didn’t want to need him—but she did. She so completely did.

“But I also love you. More than I thought possible—more than all the dog shows and beauty pageants in the world. More than my job and my house and everything else that I’ve come to realize doesn’t matter if I don’t have you to share them with.”

“You gave up your dog show for me,” she said. “I told you not to do that.”

“I didn’t give it up. I recused myself. It’s different.”

“How do you figure?”

He paused. In the long moment that ensued, Ruby’s heart leapt to her throat and stayed there. Spencer’s next words mattered so much more than he knew.

“The truth is, I’ve lost my taste for judging,” he said. He shrugged his shoulder in a way that reinforced his words, but she couldn’t bring herself to believe it. “I know it sounds stupid, but it’s true. I’m tired of looking at the world like I’m running through a checklist, seeing things only in accordance with a predetermined set of rules. Sometimes, I just want to like a dog for being a very good dog. And I want to love a woman for the exact same reason.”

“Spencer, you don’t mean it,” she begged, but her heart wasn’t in it. She wanted him to mean it. Sheneededhim to.

“Would it help if I also told you that it was a really bad move to put glitter on top of your rash?” he asked. “And that you’re starting to look like a plague victim again?”

Her chest expanded until it seemed that the whole of the universe wouldn’t be enough to contain it. That had to be the strangest declaration of love she’d ever heard, but it was also the best. Because it came from Spencer. Because it didn’t allow either of them to be complacent. With this man by her side, she’d always be on her toes.

“I don’t need you to give me medical advice,” she said, but there was no sting to her words. Only her face. “For your information, you’re speaking to a woman who was recently accepted into the nursing program at North Seattle College. I’m practically an expert.”

Spencer broke out into one of the widest and most genuine smiles she’d seen from him. There was no sign of the dark-lashed, brooding menace of their earlier meetings. There was only a man who was prepared to share her every sorrow, her every joy. Her life.

“Ruby, that’s fantastic. You’ll be an amazing nurse.”

“I know I will. I’ve already given a dog an enema. I’m pretty sure it’s all downhill from there.”

Mentioning the enema caused a whimper to sound from the direction of their feet. Wheezy sat up at full attention, full of the energy he’d been lacking during the dog show.

“Wheezy, is that another word you like?” Ruby asked. She tried again. “Enema. E-ne-ma.”

With a start, Wheezy took off running down the hallway, his leash dragging behind him. She’d never seen him move so fast and would have taken off after him, but Spencer put his arms around her waist and refused to let go.

“There’s nothing down there but locked doors and an empty stairwell. He’ll be fine.”

“I’m not worried about his health and safety,” she countered. “I’m just curious what else that word will get him to do. Maybe that’s the secret to his success. You can train him with mayonnaise. I can train him with enemas.”

Spencer’s whole body shook with laughter as he tightened his grip and pulled her in. “You are not running around on a stage shouting ‘enema’ at a dog. This is a family show.”

“I’ll shout anything I want,” she said, but considering that Spencer had started kissing her, she wasn’t sure he heard her.

Just to check—and to ensure that the kissing didn’t stop anytime soon—she added, “Something like…porcupine.”

He pulled back, with laughter lifting his lips and a dark, meaningful glint in his eyes. “Don’t even think about it. I finally found a copy of that book, and I’ve never been so scandalized in my life. You can’t possibly expect me to do all those things. Some of them didn’t seem physically possible.”

Ruby’s heart, already so full, practically overflowed. “You read it?”

“Of course I did,” he said. He dropped a kiss up her jawline and down her neck, not stopping until he was buried deep in her hair. “I’m not saying I want to join your book club, but I’m starting to see the appeal.”

“Oh, really?” She arched her neck to give him better access, reveling in the soft, sensual way he trailed kisses everywhere he landed. He might not be up to porcupine levels of daring—yet—but Ruby wasn’t a woman to give in easily. “And what’s that?”

“They always end happily,” he said and swept her into his arms. “Just like you and me.”